Question for Cruisemom

[CathyCruises]

Cynthia, can you do me a huge favor and just post a list of all the sites you recommend in Rome? I know all the normal Pantheon-Forum-Colosseum-Trevi-S. Steps-Vatican stops, but what others do we need to be sure to fit in? Borghese Gallery is way up there on our list and one we haven't been to before. . since we have 5 days I want to be sure to see everything possible this time!

 

Thanks so much

 

Cathy

[riffatsea]

Sorry for barging in but thought you might like to look at a great small, easy to carry guide book called:

DK Top 10 Eyewitness Guide/Rome

[cruisemom42]

Hi Cathy, happy to help you.

 

Here's a post from my trip report last year that gives a good amount of detail on many places I visited:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=885200&highlight=trip+report+rome

 

Some of my most highly recommended places would be the Capitoline Museum, San Clemente church, Trajan's Market, and the Ara Pacis.

 

If you're planning to visit the Colosseum and Forum, take the time to also do Palatine Hill. Context Rome offers a great walking tour of all three:

 

http://www.contexttravel.com/rome/tours/roma-antica/PTR204/?linked-tours=yes

 

I could easily spend all 5 days in Rome itself, but you might consider visiting Tivoli/Hadrian's villa for a day trip (only if the weather is nice) and/or Ostia Antica (if you are into ancient ruins; these are as good as Pompeii).

[CathyCruises]

Thanks SO much--exactly what I was looking for. The weather forecast does not look good, with rain every day except Friday, so we will have lots of museum time. I wanted to include Tivoli, and will if we can, but I see that the Roma Piu pass is currently not offered. We did the Palatine Hill/Forum/Colosseum last time we were there (Nov 08) so we have time to concentrate on the less well known sites. But I am determined to get DH to the top of the dome at the Vatican, something he has not wanted to do on our last two trips. The climb itself is what is interesting to me, moreso even than the view from the top. We climbed to the top of the tallest tower here in San Gimignano, so he has no excuse!

 

I am going to look into downloading the Rick Steve's Vatican museum tour--not sure how that will work with two of us and one iPod, but better than nothing. We did a tour last time, mostly to be able to skip the line, but should have no issues at all this time of year and I would like to be free to explore on my own.

 

We will definitely hit all of your 'highly recommended' spots!

 

Thanks again

 

Cathy

[cruisemom42]

I am going to look into downloading the Rick Steve's Vatican museum tour--not sure how that will work with two of us and one iPod, but better than nothing. We did a tour last time, mostly to be able to skip the line, but should have no issues at all this time of year and I would like to be free to explore on my own.

 

 

Cathy

 

You're welcome!

 

Just to clarify -- Rick Steves has an audiotour for the Sistine chapel, but not for the rest of the museum (the reason, I think, is because they change the pathway through it every so often). What I used was the written information from his Rome guidebook, supplemented with some more "in depth" info from another book.

[CathyCruises]

Ah, that explains it. I have been busy trying to download all the Rome podcasts (took me forever to figure out how, I think because I am using a travel netbook with a really small screen and didn't see the "Get Episode" button) and didn't see one specifically for the museum. I was able to upload all 4 of the episodes into my iPhone--I forgot that the iPod is used to Eric's Mac, and it wasn't interested in being hooked up to my PC--it said you could restore it to be compatible with a PC but we were afraid of losing all our music--so we'll make do with one device. Thanks again for the help--we are off in the AM.